iPhone and iPad get Nokia maps app, called Here

Now Here this: swooping in after the disaster of Apple Maps, Nokia is bringing a maps app to the iPad and iPhone. 'Here' is an iOS app and website that you can edit, which helps you find your way even if you don't own a Nokia.

Here maps are online at Here.net for anyone to access, and will appear on iPad and iPhone as an app. Android phone owners access maps through their phone's Web browser for now, while an Android SDK is set to appear next year.

Maps are based on HTML5 and feature voice-guided walking directions and real-time public transport information. You can search maps and save your favourite locations, and if mapping information is out of date you can add roads, tunnels, bridges and other places.

If you need to find your way in a foreign country or anywhere else without a data signal then you can save the map on your phone and look at it without a signal. These offline maps can zoom in up to four levels.

The Android and Windows Phone versions of Here will work offline, but the iOS version requires a data connection.

Here will also feature a 3D view. Nokia has snapped up a company called Earthmine for their 3D know-how so there'll be more three-dimensional goodness to come.

There'll also be a version of Here Maps for Firefox OS next year. Firefox OS is a new open source operating system for mobile phones that will make its debut next week.

Nokia knows its left from its right when it comes to maps. The Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive apps are excellent on the Lumia line of Windows Phone, and the Finnish company also provides location data to four out of every five car sat-nav systems including Garmin and many more. That certainly puts Nokia ahead of Apple, which was blasted recently for replacing Google Maps with a terrible own-brand Apple Maps app on iOS devices.

Seriously though Nokia, 'Here'? What was wrong with 'Nokia Maps'?

Here can be found in Apple's App Store "in the coming weeks". Is Nokia's new maps app neither here nor there? Will Nokia trump Apple in the maps stakes? Navigate down to the comments, or across to our Facebook page to let me know what you think.